An 18-year-old Seattle-area high school student looking for a
relationship online found herself entangled with master manipulators who
coerced her into prostitution with promises of fame, money, and love.

Lauren (not her real name) met Marysa Comer on a dating website in
2014 and quickly hit it off—so much so that she left home to move in
with Comer and her business partner, David Delay, in Lynnwood,
Washington. Delay, 52, and Comer, 24, claimed they had a deal with a
major TV production company to produce a documentary about why
prostitution should be legal. Each participant would receive $20
million.

“I just thought, ‘I will have a lot of money and I’ll be
around people that care about me,’” Lauren said. “I just thought that
sounded great.”

At first they treated her well, giving her
attention and buying her things, but that was simply setting her up for
manipulation to come. Soon after, they coerced her—through various forms
of abuse—into signing a contract to participate in the documentary. The
contract required Lauren and other victims to work as prostitutes and
to be interviewed about their experiences.

“I think I was just
kind of in shock, and I didn’t really know what to think of it. I just
wanted to be cared about. I wanted a person to care about me and to be
loved,” Lauren said. “So, at that point, I just didn’t really know what
to do.”

After a few months of being trafficked all over the
country by Delay, Lauren escaped and returned to her family. But Comer
lashed out, hacking into Lauren’s social media account and harassing her
family. That’s when Lauren and her mother went to the Redmond Police
Department for help.

As the Redmond Police and the FBI’s Seattle
Division began looking into Delay, they realized that not only had
Lauren’s story checked out but there were also other victims (see
sidebar) who Delay had lured using the same approach—the promise of
money and fame from appearing in a documentary on prostitution.

“He
showed them what looked like legitimate contracts and had them sign
nondisclosure agreements so they couldn’t tell their friends and family
about it,” said FBI Seattle Special Agent Ingrid Arbuthnot-Stohl, who
investigated the case. “If they tried to get out of their contract or
leave, he would threaten to sue them for breach of contract, so that
kept actually quite a few of the victims in line.”

While certainly
not a Hollywood powerhouse, Delay had a few production credits and
online videos to his name that he used to lure girls and women into his
orbit. He posed for photos outside of television studios and used
realistic-looking contracts. While he claimed the women would receive
huge payouts after the documentary aired, he required the women to pay
him “production fees” in the form of some or all of their prostitution
earnings.

“He always picked individuals who were vulnerable,” said
Redmond Police Department Detective Natalie D’Amico, who also worked
the case. “If somebody wanted a relationship or just to feel love, he’d
promise that. So he really focused on whatever vulnerability that
specific victim had.”

As a detective investigating sex crimes,
D’Amico noted that human trafficking victims are typically controlled
through physical abuse or access to drugs, but in this case, Delay
simply used manipulation tactics.

“I think it is very unique, as
this was primarily done through coercion and fraud,” she said. “Deceit
using contracts and the promise of fame and money—that was unlike
anything I’ve ever heard of before.”

Comments:
The oldest trick in the book, hollow promises

Posted by Chevy at 9/6/2018 1:28:50 PM

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